search and rescue

A female driver crashed on a mountain road in Nantou County yesterday, slipping 50 meters into a valley. Fortunately, the 7-month pregnant woman and 2 year-old child suffered only superficial injuries, and were rescued more than two hours later. Ms Zhang, 40, was driving a Jeep with her 2 year-old daughter on board when the accident happened at around 5:00pm. Zhang had been on her way the local elementary school to pick up her children. When Zhang had failed to

[Picture: Ministry of Defense.] Taiwan’s navy and air force today are continuing the search for a pilot who went down in the ocean 60 nautical miles north of Pengjia Islet yesterday evening. Search and rescue operations were launched after contact with the Mirage 2000 was lost at 6:43pm, November 7. The aircraft was piloted by 28 year-old Captain Ho Tzu-yu (何子雨) of the 499th Tactical Fighter Wing, and was on a routine night flying training mission at the time. Air

The crew of a Honduran-registered freighter was rescued by Taiwan coast guard in the early ours of the morning after the ship capsized off the coast of south-west Taiwan. The coast guard office received a report from the National Rescue Command Center that the 2,673 tonne freighter Ming An had capsized 36 nautical miles from the port of Kaohsiung at 1:38am. The crew of 14 Indonesian nationals had abandoned the vessel in rough seas. The Coast Guard dispatched ships and

A Canadian woman swimming with a group of friends at a New Taipei City Beach was swept out by a rip tide at around 1:00am this morning. The woman managed to make it back to shore on her own around 2 hours later. The group of 5 friends were camping at a Baishawan beach. They decided to go for a midnight swim, but got into difficulties in the large waves. Four men got back to shore, but the 23 year-old

The remains of Taipei firefighter Li Ying-xun (李盈勳), who went missing in a mountainous region of Hualian County March 1 were found yesterday July 20. The skeletal remains were found at the bottom of a 100 meter drop by an aboriginal hunter, Yang Zhong-zheng (楊忠正) who was guiding a civilian team searching for Li. Firefighters from Taipei and Hualian, and army personnel spent 20 days searching for Li in March this year. During the search in precipitous terrain and under

A ground rescue team set out on foot this morning in an attempt to reach a hiker stranded on a ridge in Taiwan’s Central Mountain Range. It is expected they will take 5 days to reach the man. Mr Lee, 29, went missing after setting out on a hike May 13 [see previous article], but managed to make contact with rescue services by cellphone yesterday after crawling to the top of a 2,400 meter high ridge. Lee said that had

[Picture: United Daily News] The search for a Taipei firefighter who went missing while on a hiking trip in Hualian County has been suspended after search and rescue teams failed to find a trace of the man after 20 days. Firefighter Li Ying-xun (李盈勳) lost contact with his two hiking partners when he went searching for water at around 4:00pm March 1. Due to the remoteness of the location it was more than 24 hours until the men were able

Soldiers from Army Aviation and Special Forces Command joined the search for Taipei firefighter Li Ying-xun (李盈勳) this morning as the search entered its fourth day. Li went missing while hiking with 2 Taipei City Fire Department colleagues in a remote mountain district in Hualien County March 1. The hikers had set out on February 28 and camped at an altitude of 580 meters. On the second day the group made camp at 1050m. At around 4:00pm Li went to

The crew of a Panamanian-registered cargo vessel was airlifted to safety when the ship listed and started to sink 26 miles west of Kaohsiung this morning, January 14, 2017. Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense reported that the National Rescue Command Center received a mayday message at 10:42am this morning. An airforce EC225 helicopter was dispatched to airlift the 13-person Indonesian nationality crew. The ship appears to belong to Chinese shipping company Guandong Tongcheng Shipping.

Wulai Township: A clearer picture of Typhoon Soudelor’s destructive power emerged Monday, as weather cleared, floodwaters receded, and rescue crews reached isolated communities around Wulai, south of Taipei City. The main tourist thoroughfare, Wulai’s ‘Old Street’ is covered by mud, rocks, and other debris. The bridge linking the old street to the main part of the village and its hot-springs resorts, has lost its safety rails. The narrow gauge coal train, constructed during the Japanese colonial period, and now used